This page covers the SHIONOGI Group’s vision for the future, Desired human resources, HR Program, and Human Resources Development and Career development policy and initiatives, all grounded in the approach of human capital management.

SHIONOGI has set forth in STS2030 Revision to Transform from a drug discovery-based pharmaceutical company to a HaaS company and grow through business Transformation. It is none other than each employee of the SHIONOGI Group who will realize this growth through Transformation.

SHIONOGI’s human capital management is defined as advancing the acquisition and internal integration of new capabilities by multiplying human resource capability (individual strength), DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), and engagement to execute the growth scenario.

We have defined the vision for human resources (SHIONOGI Way) as “Be the best that you can be to take on new challenges by constantly improving and expanding your capabilities,” and are accelerating the execution of the growth scenario by enhancing an environment where individuals can fully demonstrate their capabilities through various human resources measures, including the HR program.

In implementing human capital management across the SHIONOGI Group, we recognize the importance of creating a virtuous cycle that drives sustainable corporate value. This is achieved by investing in our employees, fostering a deep understanding and alignment with our fundamental policies and vision, and enhancing their motivation to contribute proactively. To this end, we are advancing initiatives to strengthen our talent base through work style reform, sophisticated talent development and acquisition strategies, and branding activities, while continuously improving the environment that enables individuals to fully realize their potential.

SHIONOGI Group seeks globally‑capable professionals, DX/IT specialists, and experts for new-business ventures, strengthening capabilities that underpin business model transformation and growth. We define the skill levels (lead, member, entry) for each role and clarify required abilities to guide hiring and development. Last year we hired 70 high‑performing mid‑career professionals aligned with skill levels, and early signs show employee skill assessments are raising individual capabilities. Through these measures we aim to accelerate organization‑wide talent development, build a resilient talent portfolio, and drive global business growth.

The SHIONOGI Group’s HR Program is based on a job grade structure, designed to ensure fair treatment according to roles and performance, regardless of personal attributes such as age or gender. We have set up an evaluation program based on two axes: a comprehensive evaluation based on the grade definition required by SHIONOGI, and a contribution evaluation that evaluates each individual's contribution relatively. One of the points to strengthen in the STS2030 Revision is strengthening human resources, to accelerate the realization of the SHIONOGI Group Vision and the transformation into a HaaS company, we aim to build a robust human resources portfolio aligned with our management strategy.

To realize the development of human resources that embody the SHIONOGI Way, we have introduced HR Program centered on challenge and motivation. Through this approach, we are developing an environment in which employees take ownership of their growth and contribute to enhancing corporate value through continuous challenges. In addition, we are steadily advancing efforts to build a flexible talent acquisition framework, including the strengthening of mid-career recruitment.

To meet our Medium‑Term Business Plan, we are strengthening the recruitment of global talent, specialists in DX and IT fields, and external professionals with advanced expertise in new business domains.　We design competitive compensation structures, we hired 70 external talents last year.

We believe that appropriately conducting evaluations and compensation in a balanced manner for employees who boldly take on high goals necessary to achieve STS2030 Revision, based on understanding their current position and challenges for promotion, leads not only to employees’ own growth and market value enhancement but also to their sense of achievement. At SHIONOGI, we introduced a new HR program in October 2023 that more clearly emphasizes the concepts of employee challenge and sense of achievement. When introducing the system, we first appropriately graded employees according to their current roles, allowing employees to know their position, understand the roles and expectations the Company has for them, and be evaluated based on job grade definitions and behavioral examples. We also implemented a system where grade changes are possible based on single-year evaluations, and new employees can be promoted as early as their fifth year.

 

At SHIONOGI Group, we have established market-competitive compensation levels for each role, and provide compensation commensurate with employees’ responsibilities and performance, regardless of age. We have introduced a system where employees are rewarded with compensation commensurate with their contributions to the Company, if they are evaluated as having made significant contributions.

With respect to bonuses, SHIONOGI Group has adopted a performance-based system that rewards employees when their efforts and challenges lead to the Company’s growth, ensuring that such achievements are appropriately shared.

Respecting the principle of 'equal pay for equal work,' we have established and operate a fair and transparent human resources system. By providing a living wage that exceeds the legally mandated regional minimum wage, we are actively working to create a safe and supportive work environment where all employees can thrive with peace of mind.

At SHIONOGI, as a result of our efforts to visualize skill levels, many employees have begun to voluntarily engage in further self-improvement towards acquiring skill requirements. On the other hand, SHIONOGI believes that the Company has a responsibility to provide opportunities for employee growth, and is creating an environment where employees can practice growth-oriented initiatives.
We have introduced an internal recruitment system to support employees’ independent-minded career development. This system aims to support employees who raise their hands and take on challenges, and to further enhance organizational strength. Also, to promote career development, we provide opportunities such as interviews with managers using the Career Design Sheet, a tool for considering and describing one’s career, career interviews with career advisors where employees can receive support from experts and gain learning opportunities, and career training opportunities tailored to each life stage and career stage. Furthermore, we provide opportunities for managers, who are in the position to guide and support employees most closely, to update their skills and knowledge for supporting the careers of their subordinate employees.  As a system to support employees who are trying to grow and transform themselves, we have introduced a self-investment support program that provides educational expense support of up to 300,000 yen per person per year for what employees want to learn, and we are continuously expanding this program.
In the midst of intense environmental changes, we will provide opportunities for employees to raise their hands and take on challenges, and further enhance organizational strength to develop independent-minded human resources who are motivated to work responsibly towards SHIONOGI’s global success and connect individual growth with organizational growth.

We are implementing various development measures based on the principle of independent-minded practice towards embodying the SHIONOGI Way, which is our vision for human resources. As examples of specific development measures, in addition to mandatory training for all employees (compliance, DE&I, etc.), we provide training opportunities focusing on manager training, career support, and specific skill enhancement. At the same time, as mentioned earlier, we have formulated definitions for each skill level and are visualizing skill levels. As part of this initiative, in fiscal 2024, we conducted programs such as manager training and career development training by job level. The average training time per person was 8.5 hours (in-person training only). The total education and training expenses amounted to 199 million yen, with 161 million yen allocated to self-investment support. As a result, the average education and training expenses per person was 98,000 yen.

The success of STS2030 hinges on bolstering our managers, as SHIONOGI’s managers are required to support employees’ growth, promote transformation of the workplace, and maximize the outputs of the entire organization. With this in mind, in fiscal 2020, we have continued PJ-KANAME, a program for manager development aimed at all domestic managers that stresses managers’ personal growth, sophisticated decision-making skills, and a commitment to grow both employees and the organization.

Project KANAME is designed to help managers continuously improve their capabilities through a diverse range of programs, including “Penetration and practice of medium-term management plan STS2030,” “Decision-making / decision-making and approval”, "Labor / goal management / personnel evaluation“, “DX”,  “supporting the growth of collaborators and communication,” “logical writing skills,” and “basic management knowledge”.

The President’s Management Seminar, which is led by the President in person, is a forum set up in 2012 to cultivate senior management candidates. Each year around ten candidates are selected to participate in a total of seven to nine seminars held roughly every month over the course of the year.  Through this program, SHIONOGI cultivates its next generation of leaders by developing diverse human resources with a tenacious approach who can consider issues from a company-wide perspective.

Experience at Group companies’ Senior management candidates take on roles as presidents, non-executive directors, and auditors of Group companies, where they gain management experience. The president of the SHIONOGI Group himself confirms the content of discussions at Group companies. At the twice-yearly general meeting of shareholders and at business briefing events, the president of the SHIONOGI Group and officers of Group companies are engaged in comprehensive discussion, providing them with a forum to deepen their understanding of the stakeholder perspective and hone their business instincts.

SHIONOGI carries out a system of corporate officer rotation across divisions. This rotation allows corporate officers to experience management of a number of divisions so that they can practice management not as the representative of one division but from a company-wide perspective.

SHIONOGI's approach to human resource development and career development is also published on the SHIONOGI Group's recruitment information "SHIONOGI Recruiting Site."